A Rose By Any Other Name
by jazzmonkey
Summary: He always suspected that his mother's death had been more than just an accident. Now, looking at the ink on his shoulder and the rifle leaning against his mother's bed, he wished he had left well enough alone. Prequel to "Silent Thorns".


**Rose By Any Other Name**

**I was supposed to post this on August 27th, but I forgot and so here you go now!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bakugan.**

The phone rang.

Shun looked at the device with trepidation, trying to ignore it. It was a plain, sleek phone that looked like it had been in circulation for decades when in reality it had been in use for the entirety of one day. He really had to stop underestimating Dan's destructive abilities.

The phone vibrated on the desk, shuffling closer and closer to the edge. He stared at it from his bed, his hand itching to throw it out his window into the pond in his backyard. However, for some reason beyond him, he picked it up instead.

"Kaze," he murmured, testing the name on his tongue.

A gravelly, deep voice echoed into the speaker, "Ah, I heard that Hunter Kaze was back online. Are you ready to go?"

"I wouldn't have picked up the phone if I wasn't," Shun stated bluntly.

"Like mother, like son, I see."

He listened to the other man tell him his mission and looked at the picture before hanging up. Picking up the guitar case, he swung it over his shoulder and headed down the road, making sure not to disturb his grandfather.

As he made his way through the trees, he put on black leather gloves and took a cloth to the phone. After doing a quick clean, he dropped the phone into a can by the street before heading back into the cover of the woods.

The sixteen-year-old sighed and made his way through the trees until he could see the familiar lights of the city. The city tower blinked invitingly, but he made his way past it to the shadows of the park. He settled in.

Sitting there waiting, he thought back to when he had first found out about his family's history.

_Shun opened the door after it being closed for almost two years. The bed was made and the dresser still had a bottle of perfume on it. His mother's room looked lonely, as if it were waiting for an owner who was never going to come back._

_He sighed, "Better get started."_

_He grumbled a little when his grandfather had told him he could not push off cleaning out his mother's belongings anymore. Many of her clothes and furniture could be donated, just as she would have wanted._

_He carefully pulled out her makeup and combs and all the other items he faintly remembered his mother using once upon a time. After two hours of work, he had sifted through the contents of her dresser and her armoire the best he could. He piled the combs and fashion accessories into a bundle that he planned to give to Dan's mother. If his mother wasn't going to use them, he knew she would have wanted her best friend to have them._

_Finally, he opened the doors to her closet. He sat down and pulled a box towards him and looked inside to see albums upon photos of people he knew and some he didn't. Shun let out a breath before clenching his teeth. He would have to look through them eventually._

_He sat up and rolled his shoulders before something in the closet caught his eye. There was a raised panel against the back wall. He tugged and it came away with ease. Cautiously reaching in (and all the while cursing Dan for rubbing off on him), he kept going until he felt a rough fabric. He gripped it and pulled back out, surprised to see a guitar case. _

_Opening the case, he felt the air be punched out of his lungs. The rifle glinted menacingly._

"_What the…"_

_He touched the rifle's scope and gently dragged it out. Piece by piece he pulled them all out until all that was left was a sliver of glossy metal peeking out of a small flap. Opening the flap, he drew the rectangular object out._

_It was a phone._

He mentally cursed Dan again. It was the stupid curiosity that had gotten him into this mess, and he wasn't sure how to get out. Glancing at his watch, he realized dimly that it was almost time for the meet. He peeked through the foliage that was hiding him and scanned the park until he spotted a man in a dark brown suit.

He pushed the barrel of the rifle out slightly, steadying it against the dry grass. Every time he lined up a shot, he could remember how shocking it had been to find out the truth of his mother's death and his father's disappearance.

Shun could very clearly still picture the private autopsy report and his eyes landing on the word poison and the phrases about her central nervous system failing her.

He could also see the hatred on Dan's face if he ever found out the truth of his so called training before he ended up in Vestroia. The amber-eyed teen shook his head. These thoughts were for a later time.

The ventus brawler watched the main in the suit through the scope and marked the other older male marching up to him. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He opened his eyes once more and paused a moment to check the wind before pressing back on the trigger.

He heard a body drop and the fast footsteps of business shoes scurrying away. Shun waiting another minute before double checking the area around him for any distinctive marks that might give away his position. He doubled back to the entrance before arriving back in the park, his weapon now stored back into its deceiving packaging. He made his way to the body and reaching into his own pocket.

Fingering the stamp, he made quick work of pressing it into the dead man's collarbone before pulling the jacket back into place. He stood up and backed into the shadows before launching into the air. His work was done for the night.

His black hair made a soft whoosh noise when he pulled it out of its short ponytail. He looked at the short strands ruefully. He had cut it off when it had gotten in the way of a shot and regretted it since. He made himself a promise not to do that again and it now grazed his shoulders. Shun propped the case against his bed and shut the window.

Reaching over to his bed stand, he looked at his personal phone and saw three missed calls from Dan and a text from Marucho entailing the details of a gathering tomorrow. He slid under his covers and nestled in until he felt the first rays of the sun.

* * *

Shun looked around the room. He knew that there was a second door in his mother's room, but he couldn't remember where. He had been called again (how those phones kept showing up was anybody's guess) and it had been a rush job. He let the weapon case fall onto his mother's bed (something he just didn't have the heart to get rid of) and slid his hands against the wall. He had to get into the hall before Dan got into the house.

The kid was not a ninja, but he seemed to be able to avoid any and all traps that his grandfather set up to stop intruders.

Shun gave himself a silent congratulations when he found a crack. He slipped in and rushed down the narrow passageway until he felt another crack along the wall. Opening it, he quickly walked into his room and shut it behind him. Just in time, since he heard a loud knock on his bedroom door and a moment later it opened loudly to bang against the wall. Shun looked down at himself; he wasn't wearing a shirt, fully exposing the tattoo on his shoulder.

"Shun! Where ya been buddy?" the pyrus brawler crowed. "You haven't been picking up!"

Shun pulled down the shirt at the last possible second. He rolled his neck and turned casually, "I've been busy with training Dan. You know just as well as I do-"

"-that your grandpa is a slave driver? Yeah, I do know that." Dan smiled to take the edge off his words.

Shun shook his head at his best friend. "What do you want Dan?"

"Come hang out with us! Alice is going to be coming back from Russia soon and Marucho is throwing together a little party."

"Right, Marucho texted me. I meant, why are you here? I was going to come."

Dan shrugged, "I was bored, I wanted to make sure you came, my mom told me to, take your pick. Just hurry up."

Shun closed his bedroom door behind him and made his way to the bathroom, aware that Dan was still following him. "Let me take a quick shower and then we can go."

"Sure, but hurry up."

Shun gave his best friend a warning look, "Don't break anything."

"Geez," Dan held his arms up, "You break one vase…"

"It was three vases. And a table."

"So I was a little…adventurous."

Shun closed the door in his friend's face.

He took a quick shower and was drying his hair when he looked in the mirror. His bare chest was still a little damp, causing the green ink that spiraled towards his heart to glisten. He stopped and stared at the tattoo that might as well have been a brand.

It was a deep forest green that carved a very elegant HK over his left shoulder if you looked at it the right way. It was a symbol of his status in the government should he ever be caught with the rifle or near a body.

"Hurry up Shun!" Dan knocked on the bathroom door. Shun blinked and straightened up, shocked out of his reverie.

He quickly threw his shirt on and knocked Dan upside the head as he left the bathroom. He grabbed a hair tie from his room and discreetly made sure his mother's room was locked. Dan had come extremely close to finding the case.

Shun looked at his friend's back as he happily walked along the path. He wondered what Dan would think of him if he knew who he really was now. Not the same person he once played with, but an honest-to-god killer.

Why hadn't he left well enough alone?

**Jazz has returned to grace you all with another story from the Hunter Universe! It's been a while, hasn't it? The more I think about it, the more I want to write a story about this Hunter!Shun...Ah, well, maybe when I have more time. But, what did you guys think?**

**Oh yeah, P.S. Happy (Belated) Birthday CP!**


End file.
